Rosie Thomas | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/profile/rosie-thomas
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Rosie Thomas: rereading the India novels by Rumer Goddenhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/mar/01/rumer-godden-rereading-india-novels
Set on a tributary of the Brahmaputra, scene of the author's idyllic childhood, Rumer Godden's novels have a timeless shimmer. But powerful adult themes underlie their surface<p>In the decades since they were written, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3670310/Rumer-Goddens-life-is-a-story-in-itself.html" title="">Rumer Godden</a>'s India novels have floated in and out of fashion, yet whatever tidal shifts have affected tastes in fiction, these distinctive, poised and unsentimental books have never lost a shred of their almost hypnotic appeal. The three early novels, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/data/book/fiction/9781844088393/black-narcissus-a-virago-modern-classic" title=""><em>Black Narcissus</em></a> (1939), <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/data/book/fiction/9781844088454/breakfast-with-the-nikolides-a-virago-modern-classic" title=""><em>Breakfast with the Nikolides</em></a> (1942) and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/data/book/fiction/9781844088423/kingfishers-catch-fire-a-virago-modern-classic" title=""><em>Kingfishers Catch Fire</em></a><em> </em>(1953), along with <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/data/book/fiction/9781844088690/the-river-a-virago-modern-classic" title=""><em>The River</em></a> (1946), reflect the&nbsp;themes and settings that are central to her works.</p><p>Godden was a writer who constantly drew on her own life experiences, frugally mixing and recasting the elements to give them fresh significance, but always relating her work back to the people, places, human passions and frailties that she knew and understood best. Here, the place is northern India, the people are the pre-partition British and the Indians they governed, and the themes are sexual desire, treachery, the conflict of&nbsp;cultures and the loss of innocence.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/mar/01/rumer-godden-rereading-india-novels">Continue reading...</a>BooksFictionFri, 01 Mar 2013 17:05:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/mar/01/rumer-godden-rereading-india-novelsRN Stone/Camera Press DigitalThe outsider: Rumer Godden sensed that she did not quite belong. Photograph: RN Stone/Camera Press DigitalRN Stone/Camera Press DigitalThe outsider: Rumer Godden sensed that she did not quite belong. Photograph: RN Stone/Camera Press DigitalRosie Thomas2013-03-01T17:05:01ZMy travels: Rosie Thomas in the pashmina workshops of Kashmirhttp://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/sep/16/kashmir-srinagar-shopping
Once the novelist had seen the pashmina makers of Kashmir at work, the price tag didn't seem quite so hefty …<p>I am a customer, and therefore I must be humoured. A Kashmiri salesman will permit no obstacle to come between his customer and the clinching of a sale. I have expressed a wish to meet some of the skilled workers who produce Kashmir's fine pashmina shawls, so Rafiq, my salesman guide, leads me across a wooden bridge and darts down an alley. This is Srinagar, the lakeside city at the heart of the vale of Kashmir.</p><p>Rafiq ushers me into an airy room overlooking a garden. A dozen women sit barefoot in a circle and a couple of children play in a corner. The women are all spinning, spinning airy puffs of goat's fleece into yarn. I sit down, awkwardly crosslegged, and the low hum of chatter dies away as the nearest woman hands me her wooden spindle. I take the fleecy puff and try to copy her but the thread instantly snaps. Amid laughter, I realise that the spun yarn is too fine for me even to see without my specs.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/sep/16/kashmir-srinagar-shopping">Continue reading...</a>KashmirIndiaShopping tripsTravelFri, 16 Sep 2011 21:45:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/sep/16/kashmir-srinagar-shoppingRosie ThomasSpinning goat's fleece into yarn in Kashmir. Photograph: Rosie ThomasRosie ThomasSpinning goat's fleece into yarn in Kashmir Photograph: Rosie ThomasRosie Thomas2011-09-16T21:45:01Z